Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



-BOSTW ICK & SARGENT.

Breech-loadin Fire-arm.

Patented Nov. 11, 1862.

WITNESSES.

jNvENToRs.

N. PETERS. PNOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. 0 07 tlnrrnn STATES arena tries.

SEYMOUR BOSTW ICK AND CHAS. G. SARGENT, OF GRANITEVILLE, MASS.

IMPROVEMENT IN BRE ECH-LOADING FiRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,9fi., dated November ll, 1862.

To ail whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, SEYMOUR Bos'rwIoK and CHARLES G. SARGENT, of Graniteville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Breech-Loading Fire- Arms; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in

Figure 1 represents a side View of the gun. Fig. 2 represents alongitudinal sectionthrough the same with the breech-piece down, as when firing. Fig. 3 represents a similar section with the breech-piece thrown up, so as to be loaded. Figs. 4 and 5 represent details or detached parts of the gun as seen in atop View.

Similar letters of reference, where they oc our in the several figures, denote like parts of the gun in all cases.

YVe are aware that a breech-piece has been thrown up into convenient position for receiving the cartridge by a spring and lever, or their equivalents, and that a wedge has been used behind a breech-piece to hold it up firmly to the barrel.

\Ve are also aware that a flute-joint between the breech-piece and the barrel has been used, and we therefore lay no claim to these things independent of our special combination ofdevices for operating andlocking the breechpiece, as will be hereinafter explained.

The object of our invention is to simplify the operation of throwing up the breech-piece to receive the charge, and then returning it into proper positionfor firing the gun and looking it there against any recoil, and to accomplish these things with as few manipulations as pos sible, having due regard to the security of the gun and of the user; and our invention consists, first, in combining, with a breech-piece that, when released, has two motions-via, a horizontal and avertically-swinging motion a single spring that will give it firstits backward and then its upward motion, to bring it into proper position for receiving its charge; and it further consists in the arrangement of a breech-piece, locking-lever. and trigger-lever, each pivoted, and operated'by a spring, so as to act in concert with each other, as will be hereinafter set forth.

To enable those'skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A is the stock, and B the barrel, of the gun.

G is a breech-piece pivoted at a by an oblong hole, so that under certain circumstances it may move back and forth, as well as up and down on its pivot-pin.

D is a locking-lever pivoted at b, so that it may swing on said pivot. This lever D has a cam, 0, upon its front end, which, when down, as in Fig. 2, locks the breech-piece against any recoil, besides holding it tightly up to the barrel, and which cam, when in the position shown in Fig. 3, allows the breech-piece to be first pushed back and then upward into the position as shown in said figure. In rear ofits pivot b there is an arm, d, that is held or released by the trigger-lever E, as the case may be. The trigger-lever E is pivoted at e, and has a shoulder, f, upon it for catching the arm (2 of the locking-lever. F is the frame for containing the several operating parts of the gun.

G is a bent spring, the point g of which takes into a notch, h, in the under side of the breech-piece O.

H is a spring for throwing up the forward end of the locking-lever D when its rear end is released.

I is a spring behind the trigger-lever E for throwing said lever forward whenever the arm d is raised up by the depressing of the forward end of said locking-lever D.

The three pieces OD Eand the three springs G H I' are the principal and controlling elements of the invention. The gun is manipulated as follows: Supposing the gun to have been discharged and the breech-piece 0 still locked down, as in Fig. 2, the user then draws back the trigger-lever E, which releases the arm d. The spring H being contracted, it forces up the forward end of the locking-lever and releases the breech-piece, which in turn is first pushed back and then upward by it spring 'G. The several parts will then be in the position shown in Fig. 3. The cartridge or charge having been introduced into the chamber in the breech-piece, the breech-piece is forced down as far as it will go. The locking lever D is then forced down into its lowest position, which runs the breech-pieceforward to make a close or locked lapped joint with the bore of the barrel, and the trigger-lever E is thrown forward by its spring I, causing its shoulder f to pass under the arm d of the locking-lever,

-and thus every part is firmly held in place.

The gun may now be capped and fired and again thrown open for another cartridge by pulling back the trigger E, and so on.

Instead of pivoting the trigger-lever E and arranging it vertically, or nearly so, as shown in the drawings, it may be arranged horizontally, or nearly so, and be shot out by acoiled or other spring behind it without being pivoted, the pivot, as shown, being necessary only to keep it in proper position to act, while if horizontal it could be guided by any other mechanical device and serve the same purpose, and when horizontal the thumb or finger piece may project upward, so as to con veniently caught and operated.

Having thus fully described the nature and object of our invention, what we claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent i s r 1 In combination with a breech-piece pivoted by a longitudinal slot, a bent spring, G, that will, when the breech-piece is released,

first run it back and then throw it up, sub- 

